VPN Security

With an increasing number of employees continuing to work from home or perform tasks on the go, organizations need to ensure communications with their corporate network are protected. One solution to this problem is a Virtual Private Network ( VPN ) that permits employees working at home and other remote work on shared or public networks, how-to securely share data between your computers.

VPNs were created to solve two aspects: the high-cost of leased lines at branch locations and the need for employees to connect remotely.

While VPN services can safeguards information because they use encryption and direct online website visitors through a “tunnel”, this process has its disadvantages. But before we get into these limitations, let us break down how a VPN toils.

How does a VPN work?

VPN operates by transferring encrypted data, which has specific routing information in a header. By using this technique we assure that the data is transmitted securely over a shared or public network to its destination site.
These data packets are passed over the public network in an unintelligible form that is not readable without secret decryption key which will help to prevent unauthorized access or tampering while its on transit.
To the user, a VPN connection is virtually like having your own direct point-to-point link for yourself and to a company server. As far as the user is concerned, it appears that the data exits over a private dedicated connection and they don’t see or need to know anything about how this all works with finicky public WANs.
As more and more work forces roam around, the need for VPN connections come into picture wherein employees under WFM (Work from Anywhere) can connect securely to a Remote Corporate Server using the routing infrastructure of your Public Network which is nothing but Internet.

VPNs improve Wi-Fi security

According to a new survey by iPass, 37 percent of over three thousand mobile workers across the US, UK and Germany never use VPNs when working on public Wi-Fi networks even though two-thirds said they were concerned or very concerned with their security. Still, VPNs serve as a trusted tool for locking down data on shared networks.
But remote employees who inadvertently place corporate data and networks at risk aren’t the only problem. They may pose security risks, access corporate resources, or contractors and suppliers. Utilizing a VPN is one method to mitigate these risks.
This often occurs in enterprises where VPNs are used for asynchronous data flows when the remote peer is not an end user but another server and at multiple sites within a private network, acting as one cohesive unit while accounting for vastly different levels of traffic.
VPNs can offer a more cost-efficient WAN alternative because they have easier upgrade paths and don’t require extensive differentiation. On the other hand, connecting networks to one another can result in network reliability and performance issues (particularly when tunneling over the Internet).

Types of VPNs 

There are basically four types of VPNs:

Combination-Firewall based VPN

This is the protocol, which offers both firewall and VPN features together. Secure gateway - This sort uses firewall protection to manage access from an internal network and has characteristics such as address interpretation, user authentication, alarms/alerts & logging.

SSL VPN

It allows remote users to connect using only a web browser, and does not require the installation of additional client software. When you access the VPN connection over HTTPS, it uses SSL to encrypt communication between your web browser and its device.

Software VPN

Software VPN calls are less restrictive on traffic flows and work best when endpoints do not share a common entity, used with different firewalls or routers.

Hardware-based VPN

Higher-performance High throughput and reliability at the network layer The hardware-based VPN has better equipment performance, but also higher cost.

VPN tunneling protocols

VPN risks – and must-have security features

Are VPNs safe, you may ask? Well, VPNs also have inherent risks – they provide security. Some of these threats include VPN hijacking (a non-authorized user takes control over a incoming VPN connection, usually used when hacking), Man-in-the-middle attacks that alters the generated data in some way with help attacker and weak user authentication -when hackers use stolen usernames and even passwords to tunnel into network. Additional that can infect a client machine to grants excessive network access rights Or use its default DNS instead of the VPN secure server.

• Strong Authentication Support
• Strong encryption algorithms
• Supporting Anti-virus and IDS/IPS Tools
• Administration and maintenance port with secure default configurations
• Digital certificate support
• Logging and Auditing
• Allows clients to use their own private network addresses, keeping them hidden

A kill switch is also essential for VPN security. If VPN connection is lost it makes sure that either internet or the app using an internet will be disconnected and your IP address remains unexposed.

Training is also vital. Through the implementation, use and management of VPNs all network administrators, security staff as well support desk personnel; even remote users must be trained to best security policies

Another method by which VPN security operates is with Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS). In addition, past encrypted communications and sessions cannot be decrypted under an adversary’s control by using long-term keys or passwords even if the password is stolen in advance as well. But, as VPN sessions have different encryption keys (some combination of the attacker would be stolen for this session), there is a higher security level.